IATSE in your area?

This is the most important lesson to learn period.

And Derek don't feel bad...I don't know who the hell Brett Daniels is either. I thought the Sahara had the Amazing Jonathon.

God! I love the Amazing Johnathan!
 
...I thought the Sahara had the Amazing Johnathon.
On March 1, 2008, Johnathan opened at the Krave Theater around the corner from the Planet Hollywood casino and hotel.

Psychic Tanya sends love to you as well. My favorite gag is, when Johnathan asks her how she got such great tickets to a show at the Venetian, she turns toward the audience with blue paint all over her mouth.:lol:
 
Couldn't tell you how to join, but you may not need to. I called a couple theaters near me. Asked how to get on the overhire list. One called back a few weeks later. They are out in the suburbs and I think a lot of the union hands are in the city, so it's hard to get them to come out. But I get hired for most shows. The actual union hands always get picked up for run crews, but that's ok with me. As for dues, I get 4% deducted for the time I work.

As for the people there, they are good, decent people and there's a very small percentage who are goofballs. Most of the goofs don't get called back too often. They called me fairly regularly until I had to have surgery and couldn't work for 3 months. Now that I'm back on the list the season's over. Oh, well.
 
I think that most Union Locals (as well as any large labor pool for that matter) has lots of good people, lots of bad people and lots of people that are just ok. Locall 336 in Phoenix is pretty awesome depending on the people that get sent to you.

Our local has a request list first policy meaning that the clients get to put in requests for people and those are honored before low card number or senority. This allows us to pick the people we like. We also have a "I don't wan't to ever see these people anywhere around my facility list" for our not so favorite people. It works out pretty well.
 
While I am not a union stage hand, I do occasionally work with an IATSE crew. We have a group renting our amphitheatre next week. If I remember correctly, their crew is from the Local 504 in Orange County, CA. This will be the fifth time they've used our facilities in the nine years I've been on staff. Except for one or two of the stage hands they've brought in for their shows, I've found them to be a highly professional and hard working bunch, though a little too rigid in when they take their breaks. I've even learned a thing or three from watching these crews in action.

I've only had two minor issues regarding the union crews. The first was with an individual on a crew I worked with several years ago who simply would not stop complaining about how unfair the union was to the stage hands and how over worked they were. He was the only member of that crew complaining at all. He also happened to be the only stage hand on that crew who was not pulling his own weight. He reminded me of a member of the Pageant's stage crew who did nothing but complain while doing half the work of anyone else on the crew. Union or non-union, it's been my observation that the biggest whiners on a crew are usually the ones who aren't doing their jobs.:rolleyes:

The other issue was with a show this group did last year. When the IATSE crew reached their assigned break time, one of them noticed that I was still working and told me that I had take my break now. I simply pointed out to him that I was with the house, and did not work for his group, and therefore was not required to take a break at that time, and that I would take my lunch when I got hungry. The IATSE stage hand was a little embarrassed, I got a bit of a laugh out of the situation, and that was the end of it.:lol:

Twice the Orange County Local has offered me union membership, and I've had to turn them down both times. The first time, I was fresh off a serious knee injury, and simply not capable of doing the work. The second time, last year, I told them that while I appreciated the offer, I was simply too busy at the Pageant to work for them too.

I'm looking forward to this IATSE crew's return to my facility, as I had a good time working with them last year, and I think they enjoyed working with me. We operate a little differently, as they are used to operating as a team, and I am used to operating, for most of the year, as a crew of one. But the IATSE style seems to mesh well with my own when they come to my venue.;)
 
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The most important thing to remember is that IATSE is not an employer, it is a labor union. A labor union is essentially a referral agency. Most non-union stagecrews are employed by a company that "rents" out their employees to work on a show/event. The union negotiates contracts for the stagehands so they don't have to and supports them when there is a dispute.

If a company needs to fill a call these are the choices: union - employer is now hiring the stagehands on a temporary basis abiding by a contract negotiated by the union, employer must provide workman's compensation insurrance but all other "benefits" are negotiated upon usually as a set dollar amount per hour (union member uses that money towards benefit(s) of choice) OR nonunion - employer hires an agency that employs stagehands and pays a labor fee based on a contract (which is often based on union contracts) but does not have to provide insurance nor benefits of any kind. There is sometimes a third type which is nonunion referral service where the company negotiates the contract but the employee is responsible for his own workman's compensation, insurance, and since it is usally a 1099 tax form, is also responsible for withholding enough taxes to pay the Man in April.

I am union, currently (and most often) have worked non-union. It is my choice to forgo the representation of my union for the stability of work. I was in Phoenix and they do not have contracts with any employer where I could get full time work and since I have a family, I needed regular employment, not on-call work. However, that did bite me in the butt when I was terminated from one of the theaters in which I was employed because I was enforcing OSHA regulations. Since it wasn't a union job, they could not represent me in court and I couldn't afford to fight it (I did seek legal council). In the end, it may have been a blessing since it lead me down the road to my job in Vegas (in a very roundabout way).

Just my two cents.
 

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